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SAKHIR, Bahrain — In the space of Formula One’s two preseason tests, Mercedes has presented two very different versions of its new car. When the W13 left Barcelona after the first test it looked relatively conventional. When it emerged again in Bahrain for the second test it looked genuinely revolutionary.
The changes, which were mainly focused on the shape of the car’s sidepods, have not gone unnoticed by rival teams, leading to questions about the Mercedes’ legality after just one day of running.
Within two hours of the updated car leaving the garage for the first time on Thursday morning, Red Bull team boss Christian Horner was quoted by Auto Motor Und Sport, saying: “Mercedes have gone a step too far. That does not correspond to the spirit of the regulations.”
A Red Bull spokesperson later said the quotes were “incorrect”, before further clarifying that “no official comment” had been made by the team.
F1 motorsport boss Ross Brawn, whose team of engineers came up F1’s new technical regulations for 2022 to improve overtaking, admitted they had not considered Mercedes’ approach to the sidepods.
“There’s no doubt that the Mercedes concept, we didn’t anticipate, I don’t think,” Brawn told Sky Sports. “It’s a very extreme interpretation of the regulation and I think there’s going to be, inevitably, a lot of debate about their interpretation and that’s what happens with new regs.”
Although it looks dramatically different from the outside, under the skin the Mercedes does not appear to be a departure from the car that ran in Barcelona. The radiators, which are housed inside the sidepods, are still located in a conventional position, and photos of the car without its engine cover suggest the layout of the internals has not changed since the first test two weeks ago.
The bodywork draped over the car, however, has changed. The inlet to the sidepods has switched from a high, square opening to an inverted triangle. It’s almost as if a traditional sidepod design has…
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Source : espn
